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Mayo Fail :( Discouraged, please help!


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I tried my hand at the mayo recipe and had a big fail! I used a blender,  and tried my best to pour the oil in slowly. It came out ugly, runny and oily :(

So I followed the whole30 ranch recipe to turn it into ranch dressing. I read the label and the vinegar said made from 100% red grapes.

AFTER putting in the red wine vinegar it calls for, I got to thinking about sulfites. So I checked the label again and sure enough sulfites! So I know wine is a no, no and because it has sulfites, so what about the red wine vinegar? :( 

I so feel like im failing big time at this!!! 

I'm on day 16 and my clothes still fit the same, I still have food cravings, have raging skin hives, no energy and so feel like chuncking this thing in!! :( Please help!

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For the mayo did you let your egg and lemon juice come to room temperature before you added the oil?  I had a series of mayo fails and that was apparently the problem.  Now my mayo procedure looks like this:

1. Crack egg into jar
2. Add 1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice and salt/mustard as desired
3. Wait until egg/lemon/seasonings are room temperature
4. Blend egg and lemon juice with immersion blender (5 seconds)
5. Continue running immersion blender and begin pouring in oil slowly
6. Enjoy

I cannot tell you how many cups of perfectly good olive oil I wasted by not letting the egg and juice warm to room temperature (or close to it) first.  

 

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LOL! Yes! I had everything at room temp. but I added some oil in first like the recipe said. I used a blender because I dont own an immersion one. but I posted again, that the second time around was a complete success! I used less oil too! I'm sooo excited!

Thank you so much for helping! I so appreciate it!! 

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1 minute ago, arkangelsmom said:

LOL! Yes! I had everything at room temp. but I added some oil in first like the recipe said. I used a blender because I dont own an immersion one. but I posted again, that the second time around was a complete success! I used less oil too! I'm sooo excited!

Thank you so much for helping! I so appreciate it!! 

Glad you got it.  It is SO frustrating when it doesn't work.  If you think you'll be making mayo often an immersion blender is a worthwhile investment (they're pretty cheap).  I've found I don't have to be that slow with adding the oil if things are all room temperature and I'm using the immersion blender.  I add a full cup of oil over maybe 90 seconds.  It's not a huge amount of time, really.  

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Just a hint. You shouldn't have to pour the oil in at all if you use an immersion blender. Dump all ingredients into a mason jar. Put your stick blender right to the bottom blend while slowly lifting blender up (about 20 sec), done. I also never use room temp ingredients, they are always straight from the fridge. I have never had a failed batch with this method. 

Edtited to add: If the vinegar says "contains sulphites" or they are in parenthesis, it's ok as vinegar can have naturally occurring sulphites. It's just if they are listed as part of the ingredients list that would be non compliant. 

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It helps if you look up how the chemistry of mayo is made - it's an emulsion of two ingredients that wouldn't normally mix (like oil and water), but with an addition that acts as a binder - so think of one water molecule connected to one binder molecule, which at the other end is connected to one oil molecule, thus connecting the oil and the water that wouldn't normally mix.  You do need a large egg, as it's the egg yolk that is one side of the emulsion, and the oil is the other, so you also don't need too much oil.  If it's failed, you can put it in the fridge for a few hours, then add one egg yolk to a jar, and dump that fail on top and then blend with an imersion blender.  the idea is to get the egg yolk starting to emulsify with the small amount of oil at the bottom of the  jar in the immersion blender space, and then as it starts to thicken you can slowly lift the blender to get more oil involved.  it's not essential to have ingredients at room temp, or same temp - after a few seconds blending they're at the same temp anyway.  I normally leave the addition of lemon juice till the end once it's thick enough, then stir in to adjust the flavour as necessary.  I did see a page on the internet somewhere about the chemistry of making mayo and it's very interesting, but I can't find it again now, but it's out there somewhere...

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On 1/20/2017 at 5:57 AM, J9er said:

Just a hint. You shouldn't have to pour the oil in at all if you use an immersion blender. Dump all ingredients into a mason jar. Put your stick blender right to the bottom blend while slowly lifting blender up (about 20 sec), done. I also never use room temp ingredients, they are always straight from the fridge. I have never had a failed batch with this method. 

Edtited to add: If the vinegar says "contains sulphites" or they are in parenthesis, it's ok as vinegar can have naturally occurring sulphites. It's just if they are listed as part of the ingredients list that would be non compliant. 

I used to pour all the oil in, just like you are describing and for probably 2 years I never had a batch fail.  Then, for no reason I can figure out, I had like 5 batches in a row fail.  I tried different brands of eggs, adding the oil slowly, and adding more/less lemon juice.  I seriously cannot figure out why that happened.  So, the past few rounds I started letting everything come to room temperature and adding the oil slowly and I've been having perfect results.  

I can't say I really understand things, but I guess I don't want to take any chances since olive oil isn't free. 

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@creativenikki

fair enough!

It's funny how we can have such varying results with mayo. My stick blender actually broke and I haven't replaced it. I make my mayo in my food processor now with good results, but I did have a random batch fail for no apparent reason either....I just say a little prayer before each batch now, and curse myself for not replacing my stick blender :D

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On 1/20/2017 at 5:57 AM, J9er said:

Just a hint. You shouldn't have to pour the oil in at all if you use an immersion blender. Dump all ingredients into a mason jar. Put your stick blender right to the bottom blend while slowly lifting blender up (about 20 sec), done. I also never use room temp ingredients, they are always straight from the fridge. I have never had a failed batch with this method. 

Edtited to add: If the vinegar says "contains sulphites" or they are in parenthesis, it's ok as vinegar can have naturally occurring sulphites. It's just if they are listed as part of the ingredients list that would be non compliant. 

it just says, contains sulfites (spelled just like that on the bottle). the ingredients list says: Aged Red Wine Vinegar (and that's all). I bought an immersion blender and and fixed my failed batch! it was awesome!! thank you so much!!

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On 1/20/2017 at 6:31 AM, Crastney said:

It helps if you look up how the chemistry of mayo is made - it's an emulsion of two ingredients that wouldn't normally mix (like oil and water), but with an addition that acts as a binder - so think of one water molecule connected to one binder molecule, which at the other end is connected to one oil molecule, thus connecting the oil and the water that wouldn't normally mix.  You do need a large egg, as it's the egg yolk that is one side of the emulsion, and the oil is the other, so you also don't need too much oil.  If it's failed, you can put it in the fridge for a few hours, then add one egg yolk to a jar, and dump that fail on top and then blend with an imersion blender.  the idea is to get the egg yolk starting to emulsify with the small amount of oil at the bottom of the  jar in the immersion blender space, and then as it starts to thicken you can slowly lift the blender to get more oil involved.  it's not essential to have ingredients at room temp, or same temp - after a few seconds blending they're at the same temp anyway.  I normally leave the addition of lemon juice till the end once it's thick enough, then stir in to adjust the flavour as necessary.  I did see a page on the internet somewhere about the chemistry of making mayo and it's very interesting, but I can't find it again now, but it's out there somewhere...

Crastney! I fixed my fail! instead of dumping it out. I just added the egg on top of the fail and bought a cheapie immersion blender and blended as you said to do. It was awesome and exciting! I fixed my fail and have awesome ranch dressing to boot! Plus I had success on my second attempt at homemade mayo, which was delicious! You guys all rock!! thank you!!

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I had my first mayo fail tonight after making it perfectly for months. I didn't change a thing in the way I made it, so it's befuddling. Did someone suggest that the barometric pressure could affect it? It's pretty chilly and humid outside... I guess I'll blame that!

Stephanie

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My recipe is 3 very fresh egg yolks, 1 T bottled lemon juice, 1 T white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, and 1 cup avocado oil. I use an immersion blender and hold it on the bottom until it's no longer drawing down the oil, and then I slowly lift it until all of the oil is emulsified.  I make my own white wine vinegar and I use a good quality bottled lemon juice - bottled over squeezed because the acidity of fresh lemons varies quite a bit.  This is the best mayo I've ever had - I found the recipe in a French cookbook.  

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Many people have expressed how it suddenly doesn't work, although they follow the same recipe.  It could be how fresh the egg is, it could be to do with temperature of ingredients, or even air pressure.  my first batches worked, then a few failed, but they've all but one worked out in the end.

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1 hour ago, MARTHALEE said:

Can someone tell me where the recipe is?  I want to make it tonight!  Can't find by using the search tool.

I don't know what recipe they're using, there are several mayo recipes around.  Someone a few messages above posted theirs, but wrote it as a paragraph not as a typical list of ingredients & instructions -- see Stegner's post above.

if you have an immersion (stick) blender, this one is easy: http://thehealthyfoodie.com/fail-proof-home-made-paleo-mayo-whole30-compliant/

There's also this one: http://whole30.com/2014/05/mayo/

Really, you can find any mayo recipe and just be sure you use compliant oil and other ingredients.

For future reference, rather than using the search button on the forum go to Google and search Whole30 + whatever you're looking for, or Whole30 forum + whatever you're looking for. Usually somewhere in the first few results, you'll see stuff from the forum or elsewhere on the Whole30.com site.

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Thanks -  the whole30 recipe is the one I was looking for, but I searched multiple ways and never found it.  I searched the forum and got lots of results with the word mayo, but not the recipe.

 

Also, since I still do not get email notifications when someone replies, I didn't see this until too late for tonight.

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Hi,Queen of mayo failure here!  This is what Ive learnt. On Blender method.

All ingredients at the same temp. My Kitche is about 10 degrees centigrade and I can still make mayo, 

Make sure to emulsify the egg and mustard and lemon for longer than you think. that seems to be the critical thing. Give it a really good whiz.

Then add the oil, slowly at first.

If it fails, make coleslaw...

 

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I had another batch fail - it started to emulsify, but then as I lifted the blender slightly to let more oil in, it just whisked the emulsion into the oil rather than emulsifying all of it.  I took another egg out of the fridge, left it to sit for an hour, then added the egg yolk only into the mix, put the blender on top and started again, and it worked a treat.

my blender is one of these specially designed ones with flanges, and protrusion to stop the mix from whirling and splashing everywhere, which I think also stops the flow of the oil going in, so I have to be extra careful in how I move the blender to get the oil into the blade area once emulsification starts.

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So on my third attempt I got mayo, but it took so stinking long (I have tried the 'easy' mason jar way and that REALLY didn't work) the motor on my immersion blender burned out!  I am following the W30 recipe from the book, the egg and lemon sit until they are room temperature.  Any suggesions? I have a blender, it doesn't have much power so I worry that it won't get everything moving and emulsifying properly.

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On 1/25/2017 at 10:44 PM, Stegner said:

My recipe is 3 very fresh egg yolks, 1 T bottled lemon juice, 1 T white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, and 1 cup avocado oil. I use an immersion blender and hold it on the bottom until it's no longer drawing down the oil, and then I slowly lift it until all of the oil is emulsified.  I make my own white wine vinegar and I use a good quality bottled lemon juice - bottled over squeezed because the acidity of fresh lemons varies quite a bit.  This is the best mayo I've ever had - I found the recipe in a French cookbook.  

How much mustard and salt? I have all the ingredients ,  would love to try it . 

 

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So what is the mayo supposed to look like?  Like normal, store bought mayo, thick and creamy and the consistency of sour cream?  Because what I have is completely liquid.  Everything was room temp, used an Emerson blender, poured the oil in slow.  Do I need to blend it for longer?  Move the stick up and down or keep it stuck to the bottom of the bowl while I blend?  I will try the trick of adding another egg yolk; it makes me sick to think of throwing away a full cup of expensive olive oil!

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